Biography
Free jazz has yielded relatively few standout guitarists, leaving experimental players who gravitate toward the instrument with scant jazz precedents and prompting most to draw instead from rock sources. James "Blood" Ulmer stands apart as a rare outside guitarist whose approach draws principally from African-American vernacular traditions. He follows the Harmolodic theory of saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, an approach that downplays jazz harmony in favor of freely improvised, non-tonal or quasi-modal counterpoint. Ulmer employs a stuttering, vocalic attack whose lines frequently emphasize texture and chords while carrying the inflection of a soul-jazz tenor saxophonist. Although the impact of Jimi Hendrix remains pronounced, Ulmer fuses it with blues, funk, and free-jazz components to produce an expressive, hard-edged, amplified hybrid that, at its strongest, equals the finest Harmolodic work.
He launched his career in funk bands, first in Pittsburgh between 1959 and 1964, then in the Columbus, Ohio area from 1964 to 1967. After four years in Detroit he relocated to New York in 1971, securing a nine-month engagement at Minton's Playhouse and a brief stint with Art Blakey. In 1973 he recorded Rashied Ali Quintet for the Survival label with the former John Coltrane drummer. That year he also began his association with Ornette Coleman, whose ideas shaped Ulmer's music from then on. The guitarist's late-'70s and early-'80s sessions reflect a distinctive adaptation of his mentor's aesthetic. Though his blues- and rock-inflected art often sounded rawer and more aggressive than Coleman's own free-jazz and funk-derived music—owing partly to the choice of instrument—it proved equally compelling on both intellectual and emotional levels. In 1981 Ulmer made the first of three Columbia dates that broadened his audience. Around the same period he formed an alliance with tenor saxophonist David Murray, bassist Amin Ali, and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. Performing as the Music Revelation Ensemble, the intermittently assembled group, with rotating personnel, issued numerous intense free-blowing albums across nearly two decades.
Ulmer's output has fluctuated in quality. With the cooperative Phalanx—featuring George Adams on tenor saxophone, Sirone on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums—he successfully revisited the free-jazz expressionism that first brought him recognition in 1987. Yet his engagement with out jazz generally diminished during the '80s and '90s, resulting in music that grew more structured, rhythmically regular, and, some argue, less inventive. Much of his later work bears little resemblance to his earlier edgy free jazz. Even so, '90s Music Revelation Ensemble recordings demonstrated that he could still deliver convincing performances in that idiom.
As the new century began, Ulmer turned his attention more deeply to the blues. He first cut Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions, with guitarist Vernon Reid serving as both performer and producer and longtime sideman Charles Burnham appearing on violin. In 2003 he released No Escape from the Blues, tracked at Electric Lady studio; this thoroughly psychedelic and funky treatment of the idiom again featured Reid and Burnham in their prior roles. Ulmer next issued Birthright on Joel Dorn's Hyena label, his most intimate recording to date. Recorded completely solo in the studio under Reid's production, the album comprises ten originals and two covers of classic material, elevating Blood's blues exploration to a fresh plane.
He launched his career in funk bands, first in Pittsburgh between 1959 and 1964, then in the Columbus, Ohio area from 1964 to 1967. After four years in Detroit he relocated to New York in 1971, securing a nine-month engagement at Minton's Playhouse and a brief stint with Art Blakey. In 1973 he recorded Rashied Ali Quintet for the Survival label with the former John Coltrane drummer. That year he also began his association with Ornette Coleman, whose ideas shaped Ulmer's music from then on. The guitarist's late-'70s and early-'80s sessions reflect a distinctive adaptation of his mentor's aesthetic. Though his blues- and rock-inflected art often sounded rawer and more aggressive than Coleman's own free-jazz and funk-derived music—owing partly to the choice of instrument—it proved equally compelling on both intellectual and emotional levels. In 1981 Ulmer made the first of three Columbia dates that broadened his audience. Around the same period he formed an alliance with tenor saxophonist David Murray, bassist Amin Ali, and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. Performing as the Music Revelation Ensemble, the intermittently assembled group, with rotating personnel, issued numerous intense free-blowing albums across nearly two decades.
Ulmer's output has fluctuated in quality. With the cooperative Phalanx—featuring George Adams on tenor saxophone, Sirone on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums—he successfully revisited the free-jazz expressionism that first brought him recognition in 1987. Yet his engagement with out jazz generally diminished during the '80s and '90s, resulting in music that grew more structured, rhythmically regular, and, some argue, less inventive. Much of his later work bears little resemblance to his earlier edgy free jazz. Even so, '90s Music Revelation Ensemble recordings demonstrated that he could still deliver convincing performances in that idiom.
As the new century began, Ulmer turned his attention more deeply to the blues. He first cut Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions, with guitarist Vernon Reid serving as both performer and producer and longtime sideman Charles Burnham appearing on violin. In 2003 he released No Escape from the Blues, tracked at Electric Lady studio; this thoroughly psychedelic and funky treatment of the idiom again featured Reid and Burnham in their prior roles. Ulmer next issued Birthright on Joel Dorn's Hyena label, his most intimate recording to date. Recorded completely solo in the studio under Reid's production, the album comprises ten originals and two covers of classic material, elevating Blood's blues exploration to a fresh plane.
Albums
